Doing my first trip to the BVI's for 8 days in mid-June. Here's my proposed itinerary and some questions - I was hoping for some advice and friendly critique. All suggestions welcome.

Day 1 - Sunday - Mid-day departure from Roadtown. Cooper Island. Hoping to do a boaty-ball, and worse case anchor.
Day 2 - Monday - Scrub Island. Planning to take the shuttle to the full-moon party at Trellis bay
Day 3 - Tuesday - Lemerick Bay and the Baths. Planning to reserve
Day 4 - Wed - Anegada. Hoping to boaty ball early in the morning.
Day 5 - Thu - Anegada.
Day 6 - Fri - Cane Garden Bay
Day 7 - Sat - JVD - Great Harbor
Day 8 - Sunday - Peter Island

Questions
- Is it best practice to take a Taxi to the Baths from Lemerick rather than trying to get the boat there ? (and then on to Lemerick).
- Thoughts on Lemerick Bay on Day 3 ?
- How far out should I book a marina ? (Scrub and Lemerick).
- Is Cane Garden Bay "worth it" ? Or are 2 days in JVD better ? Or other suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

I’m not a sailor (I know -embarrassing) but I will comment on what I know others might also mention. Leverick Bay is fun and if you can time it on a Friday night , the Friday night Jumbies show is entertaining. But what I really wanted to comment on is the Baths. Be sure to evaluate how many cruise ships are in port before deciding your timing on the Baths. I haven’t had this misfortune but apparently the Baths can be so overwhelmed with cruise ship tourists that you spend a tremendous amount of time in line and waiting. Think popular Disney world ride. Not fun and will take away from the incredible awe-inspiring experience it CAN be. Aim to go (quite) early in the morning or in the late afternoon unless you’re lucky with the cruise ships in port. I have only been a passenger on a crewed charter so can’t speak to your other questions but I will tell you I have seen all those places and each one is truly amazing in its own way. You will have a blast. Good luck ! I’m sure you’ll get more information from others who can be more specific with you.

If it’s your first time, anchoring at Cooper is a bad idea. Also, it’s Leverick Bay, not Lemerick.

It’s illegal to anchor potentially on the sea grass at Cooper. I refer you the the signage at cooper.

Have a general plan with the understanding things will change. If you don’t get a boatyball I would skip Cooper and go to Peter. I would attempt Cooper the next day and drop one day from Anegada adding Norman as your last night. No problem and plenty of time to go to the baths and then Leverick. Leave early and arrive at the baths by 8 AM to avoid day tripper and cruise ship issues.
G

My 1.5 cents....

Day 1 - Sunday - Mid-day departure from Roadtown. Cooper Island. Hoping to do a boaty-ball, and worse case anchor.

June is much less crowded than now. If you cant boaty ball at Cooper with a mid day departure then maybe alternate to Peter Island/Willie T and then pick up Cooper the last day/night

Day 2 - Monday - Scrub Island. Planning to take the shuttle to the full-moon party at Trellis bay


Day 3 - Tuesday - Lemerick Bay and the Baths. Planning to reserve

You can either do boatyball, a white mooring ball or slip. I have done the slip the last few times. You can contact Letica there and she can help you. I do it about 6 weeks in advance and then reconfirm. You can take the taxi to Baths from Leverick and maybe plan to hit afternoon 400 Baths and then dinner on way back at coco maya or Hog heaven or elsewhere on VG

Day 4 - Wed - Anegada. Hoping to boaty ball early in the morning.

If you get up to Anegada by 1000 you should have no problem but maybe you boatyball to be safe. Remember boatyball is noon to noon so if you stay 2 days plan to move to a regular ball so you dont have the hassle of trying to regain your boatyball

Day 5 - Thu - Anegada.

Nice...you will really like the 2nd day. If you are looking for a great snorkel tour try Kellys anegada tours

Day 6 - Fri - Cane Garden Bay

CGB is worth it for a night...plus you can provision here

Day 7 - Sat - JVD - Great Harbor

You can taxi from here to white Bay and then come back in evening for Foxys/Corsairs

Day 8 - Sunday - Peter Island


good luck

On day 3 you can leave Scrub early and sail to the Baths and snorkel and explore, there should be some moorings available early in the morning then have lunch and sail over to Leverick.

Thanks for all the great suggestions... I think on the Tuesday - there is actually a cruise ship in town - so perhaps I should re-evaluate that day or go late in the afternoon. Thanks !

I agree with the cautions on attempting to anchor at Cooper Island. The mooring field there is extremely tight, one is not supposed to anchor in the sea grass, and it's always crowded. Unless you can anchor outside the mooring field it can cause problems for you and every boat around you. We've anchored around the corner from Cistern Point at Hallovers Bay. It's very nice if wind and waves are from the right direction, but untenable if not.

My 2 cents on some of your plans...

I've been at Scrub twice on Full Moon Nights. The last ferry back to Scrub in the evening was 1115PM. If you or your group are late night partyers, you may find you have to go back too early for your liking. Also the SI ferry holds only 30 people so everyone starts lining up for the last ferry well before 11PM. Its a long haul to take the dinghy over -- even coming by dinghy from the Marina Cay mooring field can be choppy.

The Scrub Marina is also now used as the base for Dream Yacht Charters. If you are not chartering with them, I would find out how many slips are available for over night stays. I was with DYC in February and their boats take up most of the slips. Fewer slips available will probably lighten the number of people using the ferry as well so that might not be a bad thing.

We also happened to land at the Baths during a cruise ship day. We had docked at Spanish Town and took a taxi up around 9AM. While there were people there, it wasn't exactly like Times Square on New Years Eve so I didn't find it as bad as expected. Last year we did an afternoon at Spanish Town (cost of a slip was around $50 for 3-4 hours) and took a taxi up ($4 per person one way). In other years we have found the Baths' mooring balls filled by 7AM (we use to stay at Trellis or Marina Cay and head over to the Baths at 6AM). I mentioned this in an earlier post and someone responded that there were MB available around 10AM as the first early morning wave started to leave. Since you asked about bringing your boat to the Baths, you'll read on other posts that you cannot bring your dinghy onto the beach. There is a line that runs to shore that you can pull yourself in but you still have to swim the last 50-100 feet and with dry bags carrying cameras, flip flops, etc, and in rough choppy water, those who are not strong swimmers will find the experience very uncomfortable. I, for one, would not bother with a MB at the Baths anymore and instead, opt for ST or, as you suggested, Leverick.

One of the highlights of our last trip (Feb 2019) was a dinner at Coco Maya which is 15 minute walk from the Spanish Town Marina (Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour). The marina doesn't offer much and it isn't fully recovered from Irma, but it is closer to the Baths and our group agreed that the dinner at the Coco Mayo was the highlight meal of the week. You'll need dinner reservations (with our itinerary, that was why we ended up at the Baths on cruise ship day). Its probably a good idea to make reservations at every marina you're planning to stay at though I've never been there in June.

In 4 trips to Anegada we've always been able to score a mooring ball but we've always made it a point to arrive by noon. You'll want to be leaving Virgin Gorda by 900-930AM. On a sailing note, not all the nav markers listed on the GPS are back in place for the entrance into Anegada (Feb 2019). We also did 2 nights at Anegada and rented a car one day to check out the island -- we did Lolblolly, Cow Wreck and the Beach Club all in one day. Plus we drove down every road we could find just to see the place. It was a fun day and sometimes, getting off the boat for a day can be a nice change. On another trip, we took left over money from the boat kitty and hired a driver to take us around Tortola (checked out Sage Mtn, Bombas during the day, etc).

As always weather can be a factor and if you get one of those northern swells, CGB can be a nuisance. We were pleasantly surprised by the east end of JVD (Diamond Cay, home of the 'other' Foxys). There are some mooring balls there and it is an easy 15-20 min hike to the Bubbly Pool (Google it; its a natural pool for swimming that gets big waves funnelled in through a small gap in the rocks -- warning signs suggest don't go in on really rough days but its fun at other times).

Well after writing all of this, I'm ready to go back.......

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